Brief Report: Healthcare Utilization and Expenditure Trends Among Autistic Transition Age Youth.

The team pulled 2015 Medicaid records for 18- to young learners with autism or intellectual disability.

They counted every paid claim: doctor visits, therapy, hospital stays, long-term care.

Then they compared how the two groups used services and how use changed as teens aged into adulthood.

Autistic teens used more total care than peers with ID.

As they entered adulthood, their outpatient psychiatry visits dropped while inpatient and long-term care rose.

The shift shows a move from routine mental-health check-ups to crisis and residential placements.

Liu et al. (2017) saw the same age pattern in emergency rooms: older autistic teens landed in the ED four times more often.

Libero et al. (2016) surveyed parents and found these same youth also score lowest on social support, hinting that fading outpatient help may leave them isolated before crises hit.

Eskow et al. (2015) showed Medicaid waiver ABA can boost skills and family life, yet Alnahdi et al. (2026) show overall waiver-type services shrink as youth age, suggesting the benefit may not last into adulthood without planned hand-offs.

If you write transition plans, map both sides of the cliff: fading outpatient psychiatry and rising hospital care.

Schedule hand-off meetings before the 18th birthday, line up adult psychiatrists, and keep waiver or ABA hours in the new plan so gains don’t evaporate.